I too wonder if US washing machines leave clothes wetter. Actually, it's my experience of top loading machines that this is definitely the case. When I take clothes out of my (front loading) washing machine, I'd say that they were damp, not wet. When I've been abroad, and used top loading machines, in some cases the clothes have been dripping!

The old top-loader we had definitely left a lot more water behind. The newer high-efficiency washers (top- and front-loaders) are a lot better about spinning water out.

I'm also never willing to air dry sheets or towels. They're too big and hold too much water to dry properly in any climate I've ever lived in.

One thing that occurs reading this: Climate issues aside, how fast do US washing machines spin? I know they're different, what with the top loading thing and all, so I wonder if they don't spin as fast as our front-loaders and don't get enough moisture out to make line drying effective.

I use a front-loading washer where I live now that is probably comparable in its features to washers commonly available in other parts of the world. Before it got old enough that we were concerned about it breaking on us, we would typically spin the clothes at the top speed after washing (1200 rpm). That got normal clothes to that just-damp stage, and it's rare for things like shirts or pants to take more than a day to dry once we hang them up.

But that's normal clothing. Towels absorb a lot more water, and sheets are very large, so neither of them would be likely to dry properly within a day. If they stay damp much longer than that, they'd start to smell weird. I live in a part of the US that is very similar to the UK, which means drying things outside in the winter is pretty much a no-go (and my apartment is not heated with radiant heat, so there's no help there). I'm not about to air dry clothing outside in the summer, because we have a lot of pollen in this area and it gets on everything. I'm not allergic, but it makes things dirty.

Where I used to live, the climate was basically tropical for 9 months of the year, and torrential rain storms were common year round. I still hang up some of my clothes to dry when I do laundry at my parents' house, but even with air conditioning serving to de-humidify things inside, my stuff takes twice as long to dry.

As far as electricity in the US, it is absolutely cheaper. Given that I don't pay an arm and a leg to use a tumble dryer, and that my time and effort are not free, I frequently choose to tumble dry laundry.

Genuine question for those who think drying washing outside makes people look poor - outside clotheslines here are as standard a part of the home as the mailbox. I've always lived in nice areas and most people hang their washing out to dry. Most people's clotheslines can't be seen from the street, but if for some reason some could be, would you consider those homeowners to be poor?

Most of us, here on ehell, don't think it makes anyone "look poor" no matter where it's placed. We're more explaining the thinking that went into the laws and HOA rules, many of which are decades old and come from a time when having a clothes dryer was a big status symbol. There are actually laws being passed now against clothesline bans, because people are starting to like the look and the environmental benefits again, but it's only in some locales.

The main reason given by HOA for banning line drying is appearance. Not necessarily an appearance of poverty, but a cluttered, untidy appearance.

Mostly here people have washing lines in their back gardens behind the house, so they can't be seen from the street. Would they still be banned?

In most cases, yes. In my parents' HOA (and in most that I've heard of), the rule is that it cannot be visible from the street or from other properties in the neighborhood. Because nearly all of the properties in their neighborhood are two-story, they would be able to look out their window and see into the backyards of several neighbors, meaning that those backyards couldn't have clotheslines.

And it's not just clotheslines - lots of things are banned in backyards, like children's play equipment of a certain height. For example, when I was a little girl, we lived in a non-HOA area and had a swingset with a slide and monkeybars. We weren't able to bring that when we moved to the HOA neighborhood, as the monkeybars would have been visible and that was banned.

There are people out there who complain about what they can see in somebody else's back garden? I really, really, really want to take such people on a tour of a refugee camp, or into a sweatshop, or to a famine region so that they can find something productive to be bothered about.

I mean, I know that some people's worlds are very small, but I'm surprised there's room for anybody in a world view that miniscule.

I find your statement offensive. I have worked in famine regions and witnessed horrible conditions and have volunteered my time and money to rectify human suffering when I can. But that doesn't mean that I also wish to look out my back window from upstairs and see the neighbors junked rusting out car in their back yard or a gazebo full of wood rot and falling down. I paid a considerable amount of funds for my home and property restrictions assist with maintaining property values.

You could say the same about anyone being concerned about etiquette. Why worry about such a mundane topic when there are starving children.

The main reason given by HOA for banning line drying is appearance. Not necessarily an appearance of poverty, but a cluttered, untidy appearance.

Mostly here people have washing lines in their back gardens behind the house, so they can't be seen from the street. Would they still be banned?

In most cases, yes. In my parents' HOA (and in most that I've heard of), the rule is that it cannot be visible from the street or from other properties in the neighborhood. Because nearly all of the properties in their neighborhood are two-story, they would be able to look out their window and see into the backyards of several neighbors, meaning that those backyards couldn't have clotheslines.

And it's not just clotheslines - lots of things are banned in backyards, like children's play equipment of a certain height. For example, when I was a little girl, we lived in a non-HOA area and had a swingset with a slide and monkeybars. We weren't able to bring that when we moved to the HOA neighborhood, as the monkeybars would have been visible and that was banned.

There are people out there who complain about what they can see in somebody else's back garden? I really, really, really want to take such people on a tour of a refugee camp, or into a sweatshop, or to a famine region so that they can find something productive to be bothered about.

I mean, I know that some people's worlds are very small, but I'm surprised there's room for anybody in a world view that miniscule.

I find your statement offensive. I have worked in famine regions and witnessed horrible conditions and have volunteered my time and money to rectify human suffering when I can. But that doesn't mean that I also wish to look out my back window from upstairs and see the neighbors junked rusting out car in their back yard or a gazebo full of wood rot and falling down. I paid a considerable amount of funds for my home and property restrictions assist with maintaining property values.

You could say the same about anyone being concerned about etiquette. Why worry about such a mundane topic when there are starving children.

Fair enough. I just think that, as long as what somebody has/is doing on their property isn't dangerous and has no potential to spread to your property (like some kind of infestation), then so what if they keep a rusty car in the back garden?

I really, really don't see how that affects property values, if the neighbourhood looks well kept and pleasant at street level. To me, you might as well care about how dusty your neighbour's mantlepiece is. It's micromanaging the lives of others, and does lead me to suppose that such people need bigger things to care about.

FWIW, I feel the same about points of etiquette that aren't covered by 'be kind and be reasonable'.

I can understand not wanting to look at rusting out cars (although I personally wouldn't be bothered by that), but most of these HOA rules seem to be, as Teenyweeny says, about micromanaging the way other people live. I mean really - people are forbidden from having swings in their own back gardens in case the neighbours don't like looking at them? I find that ridiculous. I think if you're (you general) that precious about what you see when you look out of the window, then perhaps you should live somewhere with enough land that you can control it yourself and not within eye-line of anyone else.

I have to say, I'm really glad this isn't a thing here. I wouldn't be able to live somewhere like that.

Fair enough. I just think that, as long as what somebody has/is doing on their property isn't dangerous and has no potential to spread to your property (like some kind of infestation), then so what if they keep a rusty car in the back garden?

Rusted out cars can harbor animals you don't necessarily want living near your house, like snakes or rodents.

However, I'm not in favor of overly restrictive HOAs. In a previous house, we got a nasty letter because we didn't have a cover on our grill.

I am way too lazy to hang clothes outside to dry. Grab them out of the washer, throw them into the dryer, fold or hang forty or so minutes later after I've bummed around doing something else. Done.

I don't do ironing either. I'm way too lazy to iron.

Anything that requires more effort than I need to make, no. I'm way too lazy.

I do admire all you energetic line-drying types, though.

This is about where I land, too. I've done the line-drying thing, and it was okay--aside from having to swat away icky creepy-crawlies from time to time. (I'm a bit arachnophobic, so I'm sure the neighbors enjoyed seeing me hop around the clothes, swatting wildly at them before I took them off the line. )

Basically, for me it comes down to chucking them straight from the washer into the dryer vs. hauling the clothes upstairs, out the door, and hanging them one by one on a line. I just don't have it in me!

The main reason given by HOA for banning line drying is appearance. Not necessarily an appearance of poverty, but a cluttered, untidy appearance.

Mostly here people have washing lines in their back gardens behind the house, so they can't be seen from the street. Would they still be banned?

In most cases, yes. In my parents' HOA (and in most that I've heard of), the rule is that it cannot be visible from the street or from other properties in the neighborhood. Because nearly all of the properties in their neighborhood are two-story, they would be able to look out their window and see into the backyards of several neighbors, meaning that those backyards couldn't have clotheslines.

And it's not just clotheslines - lots of things are banned in backyards, like children's play equipment of a certain height. For example, when I was a little girl, we lived in a non-HOA area and had a swingset with a slide and monkeybars. We weren't able to bring that when we moved to the HOA neighborhood, as the monkeybars would have been visible and that was banned.

That is ridiculous. My backyard = I'll put what I dingdangity well want in it TYVM. Note to self: if moving to the USA, live somewhere with no HOA.

This is an interesting thread and I'd hate for it to get locked over HOAs.

That said, and back on topic, I hang dry a lot. I live in AZ. Our catchphrase it, "yeah, but it's a dry heat." (tshirts have this phrase captioning a picture of a skeleton languishing in the desert, or sometimes a roast in an oven) I can dry 3-4 loads per day during the summer, but I like to throw jeans and towels in the dryer for a bit to get out stiffness. In the summer I would rather hang clothes because my electric bill is already higher from having to run the ac, and the dryer warms the house.

Logged

In the United States today, there is a pervasive tendency to treat children as adults, and adults as children. The options of children are thus steadily expanded, while those of adults are progressively constricted. The result is unruly children and childish adults. ~Thomas Szasz

Pacific NW here.I line dry in the summertime, when there's a strong chance it wont rain. Wintertime, I use the electric dryer. I do at least one load a day, and I suffered through one winter where I had to line dry everything (dryer was broken). It would take days for stuff to dry, because it gets so humid in the winter.

Northeastern U.S. I grew up without a dryer; we hung clothes outside in good weather and on clotheslines in the basement when it was bad. Since I've been living on my own I've never had an outdoor clothesline. I don't judge other people who have them, but because I have this association from childhood that clothesline = "can't afford a dryer," I don't want one.

I live in a three-family house, and we don't have washers because we're on a well -- three washers would strain the water supply. There is a dryer downstairs that we all have access to, but I've never used it. It's just easier to toss the clothes in the laundromat dryer.

However, I do air-dry a lot of stuff that I don't trust to the dryer: bras, hosiery, silk blouses, sweaters, sweatshirts (I melted the design on a sweatshirt I loved in the dryer once, so it's air dry for them now), rubber-backed bathmats, anything with sequins or sparkles or beads. I schlep them home from the laundromat in a plastic bag (the average washday = about a tall kitchen bag's worth of air-dry stuff) and air-dry them on plastic coathangers on the shower door frame, towel racks and/or closet rod.

I dry just about everything on folding racks. In nice weather they go on the deck on the back of the house. In cold or wet weather they go in the living room. The only time I use my dryer is when the temperature is 40-80F ( 4-27C) and the humidity is high. On days like that nothing will dry without help. Even then my bras and knit shirts go on racks.

My area is prone to thunderstorms. I only put the racks outside when I plan to be home or close to home. When a storm approaches I bring the loaded racks into the house. Its much faster than stripping a clothes line.

I think skipping the dryer makes the clothing last longer. It also keeps my electricity bill down and helps the environment a little.